OK LEFLORE COUNTY JANE DOE: BF, 30-50, found in overturned semi near Big Cedar, OK - 18 Jan 1990

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

On January 18, 1990 a Black female passenger was found dead in the sleeper cab of an overturned semi-truck. According to Trooper Tim Baker of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the passenger was believed to have been picked up as a hitchhiker by the surviving semi driver in Cleveland, Ohio, approximately 1000 miles northeast of the place where the semi crashed in LeFlore County, Oklahoma. She may have gone by the name of “Beth” or “Baby”. The woman was described by the medical examiner as being between 30 and 50 years old, with short brown hair and brown eyes, approximately 5’1” tall, bearing a C-section scar on her abdomen. Exhumation of the remains in 2017 produced DNA data, but she remains unidentified.

DNA Doe Project Status: Research in Progress

Leflore County Jane Doe 1990 | DNA Doe Project

dnadoeproject.org

Scar/mark: Forehead scar - 3/8" horizontal scar just left of midline ; Front of upper left arm - 2 1/4" vertical scar ; Abdominal surgical scar - transverse lower abdomen
Clothing: Shirt- L/S Blue and gray striped ; Sweater - L/S beige colored long sleeve ; Pants - blue corduroy ; Belt - tan fabric ; Pantyhose
Jewelry: Gold colored ring with small pink / purple stone (left middle finger)

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

The driver initially claimed to have picked her up fifteen minutes before the crash. The man's sister stated the woman was actually a hitchhiker from Cleveland, Ohio and may have used the names "Beth" or "Baby."
Charges were filed against the driver, but were later dropped. The manner of the woman's death was determined to be accidental.

394UFOK

www.doenetwork.org

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[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Troopers Hope To ID LeFlore County Cold Case Homicide Victim 'Jane Doe'

<p>Oklahoma Highway Patrol released photos of a cold case homicide victim in hopes that someone can help them identify her. </p>

www.newson6.com

Troopers Hope To ID LeFlore County Cold Case Homicide Victim 'Jane Doe'​

Oklahoma Highway Patrol released photos of a cold case homicide victim in hopes that someone can help them identify her. "Jane Doe" was a passenger in a semi that crashed in LeFlore County on January 18, 1990.

Troopers say she was killed on U.S. Highway 259 near Big Cedar when the truck wrecked. Truck driver James Edward Taylor of Atlanta, Texas, was charged in the death, a news release states. Charges were eventually dismissed, and Taylor died in 2008.

28YO cold case from OK may have a CLE connection

Authorities in Oklahoma are asking for the public’s help in identifying a woman from a 28-year-old cold case who has a connection in Cleveland.

www.news5cleveland.com

'Jane Doe' hitchhiker killed in 1990 accident in OK may have Cleveland connection​

Authorities in Oklahoma are asking for the public’s help in identifying a hitchhiker from a 28-year-old cold case who may have been picked up by a truck driver in Cleveland.

On January 18, 1990, a semi truck driven by James Edward Taylor, of Texas, crashed on US 259 in Oklahoma. He survived, but inside the truck was a woman who was killed during the crash, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Last summer, investigators with the OHP Traffic Homicide Unit, the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office and the Leflore County District Attorney's Office worked to get an exhumation order for Jane Doe in the hopes of obtaining a DNA profile. Investigators said they were recently notified that a complete DNA profile was developed by The University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, and the profile has been entered into the DNA databases for comparison. The profile also includes X-rays and fingerprints for comparison purposes.

 

[Summer_Breeze]

Unidentified: Oklahoma Jane Doe killed on highway nearly 30 years ago, last seen in Cleveland

Now Oklahoma Highway Patrol and a team of genealogists are trying to uncover who this woman was.

www.cleveland19.com

By Sara Goldenberg
Published: Dec. 22, 2023 at 4:10 PM EST|Updated: 22 hours ago

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - The identity of a woman killed in a semi-truck crash in Oklahoma nearly 30 years ago remains a mystery.

Decades later, she is known as LeFlore Jane Doe.

But one clue in her case led investigators to Cleveland.

Now Oklahoma Highway Patrol and a team of genealogists are trying to uncover who this woman was.

She’s one of more than 14,000 unidentified John and Jane Does across the country, according to the national database NamUs.

We’re profiling her case in the latest episode of Unidentified.

<snip>

Can DNA technology crack the case?

Since fingerprints produced no matches, Trooper Baker decided to give investigative genetic genealogy, or IGG, a try.

He was able to exhume her body from an unmarked grave to obtain DNA, in hopes of finding her name through her family tree.

“I think it’s important to me to to put a name to her, you know to give her her identity back and and give her, give her a place where she can rest properly and a headstone with her name on it. And you know, I think that’s I think she deserves that,” he said.

And that’s where the DNA Doe Project comes in.

Genetic genealogists from around the world, 65 of them, volunteer their time to this nonprofit.

They help agencies solve unidentified cold cases like this for free, since investigative genetic genealogy can cost thousands of dollars.

Crowdfunding helped the DNA Doe Project raise $2,500 to work on this case.

“LeFlore County Jane Doe has been a really challenging case for us. We’ve been working on this case since the fall of 2020,” said Jennifer Randolph, senior director of case management and operations for DNA Doe Project.

“We unfortunately don’t have great relative matches and by that, I mean the people who are matching and the database to this Doe are pretty distantly related-- third cousins and even possibly fourth cousins,” she said.

“Working some cases, including our Black or African American Does are particularly challenging because for one reason, the databases that we use are disproportionately Caucasian and European. So there isn’t just good representation in the databases and we have these situations where the matches that we get are very distant,” Randolph said.


We asked her what the next steps are for them in LeFlore Jane Doe’s case.

“Sometimes it’s just a matter of time, new records become available to us, new records are always being digitized,” she said.

“So we’re doing everything we can, but it’s just hard going. But we will never give up,” Randolph said.

Trooper Baker isn’t giving up either.

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More at link. ~Summer